The U.S., like Canada and many other Western nations, is facing a housing crisis. The shortage of affordable housing impoverishes communities and creates social challenges.
Tony Catinella, Senior Communications Manager for RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.), sat down with Ron Homer, Chief Strategist, U.S. Impact Investing, RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.), Inc. to discuss how his early experiences shape the way he supports underserved communities today. After an extensive career as a banker, business owner and civil rights advocate, Ron offers career advice and life tips that we can all benefit from.
How long have you been at RBC and what is your role today?
I was co-founder and chief executive officer of Access Capital Strategies, an investment adviser specializing in community investments, which was acquired by RBC Global Asset Management in 2008. I have been with RBC ever since. Today, I’m responsible for servicing our impact investing clients in the U.S. and making sure that the projects clients invest in are implemented.
Could you tell us your back story and how you got into impact investing?
Well, we have to go back a long way for that! I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, the oldest child of migrants from the West Indies. I grew up in a Brooklyn community, called Bedford Stuyvesant, that went from 75% white to 85% Black and I got to witness firsthand the decline in homeownership, policing, schools and other city services that came with that transformation.
In 1967, Robert F. Kennedy established the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, one of the first community development corporations in the U.S. Two months before my graduation, from Notre Dame in 1969, I had the opportunity to spend time with Robert Kennedy and his wife Ethel in a motorcade as part of his bid for democratic presidential nomination. While passing through poor white and Black communities, Robert Kennedy turned to me and said, “If I get elected president, I’m going to need your help to bring about the change needed to expand opportunities for these communities.” That same day, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and just a few months later Robert Kennedy would be assassinated.
These events, and my early experiences, led me to explore how I could leverage my opportunity, as the first person in my family to graduate from college, to provide opportunities for others. At the age of 32, having spent some years in banking across various lending positions, I became the Chief Operating Officer of the largest Black-owned bank in the U.S., Freedom National Bank of New York. At 36, I helped establish and became the Chief Executive Officer of a Black-owned bank, Boston Bank of Commerce, and then, in 1997, I co-founded Access Capital Strategies, an investment adviser specializing in community investments.
Throughout these roles, I was lucky enough to advise others and involve myself in efforts to open doors for people of colour and help underprivileged communities, by supporting and investing in a range of development projects.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I feel proud of the projects in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, Boston, that still exist and helped improve those communities. I sourced finance for office space, small businesses and shops in underserved communities. I advised Harvard Business School professor, Michael Porter, often regarded as the father of modern business strategy, in forming the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a research organization investigating ways to attract private sector investment in deprived inner-city communities. I also once met Barack Obama at a small fundraiser in Boston when he was a state senator seeking election to the U.S. Senate. Possibly my most rewarding moment, however, was at Logan Airport, Boston, when a baggage handler said, “Aren’t you Ron Homer? I got my house through the Boston Bank of Commerce, and I just want to thank you.”
Not everything we do can be a success, do you have a story of something that didn’t go well and what that taught you?
At the age of 25, I was assigned to work with a local community organization in a Black community in Rochester, NY. We ended up building 300 houses and a supermarket. I was not only the lender, I was also a partner in helping build this project. Twenty years later, I returned to see the houses dilapidated and being used by gangs and drug users. This taught me that building alone does not create change without the support mechanisms necessary to maintain a thriving community.
How important have mentors been throughout your career?
I have benefitted from the mentorship of several important people in my career, but most notably would be Rod MacDougall, who was head of Marine Midland Bank in Rochester, NY. After a summer internship, he asked me what I wanted to do with my career and I told him I wanted to run a bank. He responded by telling that there were no Black branch managers, loan officers or operations supervisors, much less a bank president, but he would give me the opportunity to learn everything I needed to know to become a loan officer, branch manager and supervisor, and then it would be up to me. It is not easy to be the first person to do something, to lack role models that look like us, but his belief, connections and advice helped me to become the leader I am today.
Could you share some of the lessons that you have learned from these mentors and the business leaders you worked with?
“No matter how smart you think you are, there are always more things to learn. Learning is a constant exercise.”
“There’s no substitute for being prepared and working hard.”
“Success in business is like a marble game in a playground. The brighter and shinier the marbles, the easier it is to find a place to play. In business the marbles are knowledge, relationships, expertise. Focus on accumulating as many as you can and keeping them as bright and shiny as you can!”
What five things do you wish you’d known when starting your career that you would like to share with others?
"What you are trying to do is really hard and you won’t be successful without the help of others.”
“Being too far ahead of the pack can be detrimental.”
“The big picture is exciting but details are critical.”
“Communication is essential and powerful.”
“Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”
What’s your greatest wish?
To provide others with access to the opportunity I had as the son of an immigrant family in a poor Brooklyn community to go to college and make a difference. I wish I could provide every young person that opportunity, regardless of race.
To learn more about the community impact being made today: Impact investing | RBC Global Assest Management - Institutional (rbcgam.com)